well i can say this morning did not start with another mast climb! karli had picked out a cute little place in gocek she wanted to spend a day or two or 3 off the boat at so i headed back over to gocek to drop her off. it was with a heavy heart i left here there on the dock but i was hoping some land time would get her to return to palapa more rested and invigorated (i dont think the non stop partying seth and i had been doing since he arrived was helping her get to this point). karli reported that reported the place was quite nice for only 50 lira with a nice pool, hot shower and breakfast included (not boding well for a quick return to palapa). of course in a bit of irony shortly after dropping karli off i got a call from paul that he and shema where FINALLY on their way over to meet up with us for the bbq we had been supposed to have the night before. it had been a while since i did the single handed thing but managed to get the hook up and underway without hitting any one and headed down to the anchorage slapdash was now at to get things set up for the bbq we had promised liander.

everything seemed twice as hard without karli to help but i managed to get the boat on a mooring with seths help and then headed off with him to recon the bbq sites. we selected the same spot we had with imagine and Pegasus as it was still rigged with a nice circle of rocks. i thought we where going to side tie palapa and slapdash to free up a mooring but seth had had some bad side tie experiences so he and i med moored palapa. it was a bit of a challenge and had to use almost all of the 300 feet of chain i had but we got set up securely and got to shore to get the fire going on schedule.

the bbq went flawlessly with liander arriving to pick up their reserved mooring just as the grill was ready. seth had got the fire going and handed it off to me for the bbq while went to collect paul and shema and their baby complete with car carrier. i managed to rally from my karli free funk helped by seth making numerous scotch and sodas until we ran out of ice. during the bbq i got a text from karli asking for a pickup tomorrow at 230pm. this was welcome news but she also mentioned she had lost her atm card in the atm machine. not good since she only has one. hopefully it will be at the bank when it opens on mon! the beef and chicken jamie had prepared came out great and i used some of my secret wing sause on the wings leander had brought and these came out great as well. all in all a delicious meal!

after the dinner seth got the fire roaring and we had a full on bonfire in no time. jamie even made us smores', the marsh mellows where not quite as perfect as caroline's but the end product was delicious seth and i ended up in a bit of a fight over the last one! some how i was the designated dingy driver and managed to get everyone back to leander safely while seth stayed on shore to put out the fire. there was a bit of miscomunication as far as the after party went so we ended up calling it a night. probably just as well! looking fwd to being reunited with karli tomorrow :)

again this morning started with a climb of the mast on slap dash. we had to time it so we could use jaime to tail while seth winched me up the mast and then cut her free intime to go on a kayack around the island. so again up the mast i went, this time armed with a rivit gun and rivits (i was pretty impressed i had this stuff). i got up to the mast drilled out the old rivits only to discover my rivits where to small and where pulling through the hole. seth, know having been familiarized with what rivits looked like said he thought he might have some. he rumaged around and low and behold found 5 of the guys the correct size. alas they where so corroded (aluminum) only one took. crapedy crap crap .. i was able to get the polarity swaped on one of the mast lights so it would accept a new led bulb that was polarity sesitive so it was not a complete loss.

we where planning to head to town anyways for groceries for the bbq so we just added rivits to the list along with some vhf antenna parts. after a brisk morning swim we all rndvouds on palapa for a group trip over to gocek to take advantage of the palapa anchor windless and the 80 ft of water in the anchorage. seth and i where able to find jut about everything and karli and jaimi got some more fresh food and meet for the bbq. things where getting a bit hectic so i sent the girls to get lunch while seth and i shuffled everything out to the dingy. was a good plan as cube libre was at max load for the trip and we had to take both dingys. we did have a brief dingy race on the way back and we where pretty much neck and neck.

by the time we had finished lunch and got back under way it was looking like the bbq was going to be too ambitious. karli was pooped as well so we came back to the same anchorage and after seth and i had a few beers i made karli a romantic dinner of fried chicken things along with pasta and some fried sea weed they sell here. karli was still a bit run down from the non stop slap dash partying and social event so we made plans to drop her in gocek for a spa day the next morning.

The blog photos are wonderful! Especially the last one of LaPalapa! Hmmm...and where was the photographer "standing"??

another mast day!

roger05/19/2011, island south of gocek

i am not sure how i keep agreeing to this but aparently last night i volenteered to again go up the slap dash mast. they have no power winch so this pretty much rules seth out. from the palapa perspective this is hardly a mast, more like a long boom and it is a catamaran so how much can it really move. i am sure all these things went into a carefull decision last night to sign up to go up the mast first thing in the am to replace the vhf antenna and put in a couple of led bulbs. of course it did not turn out to be quite this easy, once up i got the antenna on but noticed it was really only hanging on by one rivit. on top of this only one of the two led bulbs worked (anyone who can guess why get another free beer). after spending what seemed like an hour up here i headed back down for my second cup of coffee. fortunatly karli had insisted on feeding me breakfast before the mast event.

the rest of the day was a whirl wind of activity. seth had agreed to come over and help me change the impeller in the engine that had not been changed since CA. i was not sure what he could do but fortunately his long arms where key as you could not actually see the impeller. he also brought over a cool little tool which was critical in the impeller removal process. the old impeller was not too bad but you could see cracking on the blades so good thing we went ahead and did this. i also almost completed the vhf antenna project and i did "fix" the primary vhf radio which was showing no power. another beer if you can figure out the "fix". karli got going on the stainless as well and everything in the shade of the cockpit is looking rockstar now! we just need to move palapa into the shade somewhere to complete the process.

by this point we where again pushing up against happy hour. slapdash was responsible for appetizers this time and we had great stuffed mushrooms and stufed tomatoes filled with a delicious sausage mixture. we also had a white sangri prepared by jaime. after this we adjourned to palapa for another round of bbq chicken. tomorrow we head into town for some more meet for a beech bbq! i am again signed up for a mast event at first light!

so this morning karli was having a bit of an it melt down, apparently none of her emails had gone out. while i was trouble shooting this i got a text from seth saying they where a bit behind sced and waiting on the diver to arrive to untangle their anchor from their neighbors. they had been in marmaris for more than two weeks so i thought nothing of this and mentally planned out our new day of boat part shopping and boat projects. so busy was i with the it project, going through the smtp logs i did not even see the next text.

half an hour later i got a call from seth asking if i got his text i said yes and i was not surprised, he asked if i got both. aparentally this was yet another slap dash scam and they where 3nm south of us heading towards us. i scrambled to get the anchor up as we where done with civilization and wanted to get to a nice secluded anchorage. after a bit of back and forth over vhf we picked up neighboring moorings about 3nm south of gocek. karli did a rockstar job on ours as it had no rope and not really even a spot to tie the rope too. she somehow hung onto the thing until i could come up and run a rope through it.

after this i got both of our stern lines secured and in keeping with the tradition of who ever just finished the all night passage i invited ourselves over for breakfast. jaime made a great breakfast and as usual we supplied the coffee. after this we adjourned for naps. i was too excited by all the new bpoat parts to sleep so i got a head start on our 20 item list, recapped here for those that care: 1. install salt water wash down system for anchor mud 2. polish stainless (karli task) 3. fsr rust (also new karli task) 4. wax boat (hoping karli may help out with this but not likely) 5. waterline (another kari job???) 6. zincs 7. take down dodger and have quater pannels replaced 8. take jenoa in for repair 9. replaice engine water pump impeller (have not ever done this due to difficulty, last done by service guy in LA) 10. fix vhf radio, new antenna 11. fix/replace ais keyboard 12. change engine oil 13. chainge genset oil - done! 14. reroute watermaker output 15. rewire shower sump pump 16. waterproof boat (standing rigging and windows) 17. leaking lprg fitting replace 18. external raymarin alarm install 19. install simrad circuit breaker (to complete instrument redundancy for ligtnighg strike) 20. add bimini suport post to prevent solar panel array from getting airborne in high wind

i think i only got one thing done before happy hour but its the thought that counts right? karli made some great anchovy appetizers and we followed this with bbq burgers put together by jaime on slap dash. the girls finished off a picture or two of sangria and seth and i did a good job on the beer and tequila combo. i had to eventually trick seth into leaving on "beer run" back to slap dash. all and all a great party. some where in the middle i called sunset alert and we all got on deck to take some great sunset shots.

Turkey ... I am still GREEN wilt ENVY ... wishing I was there And your posts make me hungry for yours and Karli's cooking... sunsets and cocktails... and your company. Remember, exterior boat chores are always on the Roger list. Great sunset shot of you lovebirds! Cruising the Med... now that is living the dream!

05/21/2011 | David

Love that you and the Slappers got back together. I have followed you both since last summer and continue to live thru each of your updates. At least for a little while more till we can head out on our own adventure. It is beautiful in the Med. Keep the stories and pics coming and thanks for a great ride...

water fall hike day!

roger05/17/2011, butterfly valley -> gocek

so today we managed to get up pretty early and head to shore for the hike. as expected we had no one trying to collect money. we also had a pair of little dogs that where nice enough to guide us up the trail until it got a little too rough for their little paws. it was supposedly only 950 meters but the lat 100 or 200 we where climbing over rocks so it seemed more like 2k

i did not get any great shots so you will again have to check out karli's blog. after the event and breky we headed back to gocek to meet up with the slappers they claimed they would be arriving in the next 24 hours but given their track record we where skeptical.

we arrived in gocek dropped the hook and immediately went into work mode. i had a list of half a dozen items required for boat repair. karli had the laundry and groceries covered. in the end we got just about everything (except the folding chairs for beach events). we decided to go into the kebob hospital for dinner as the wind had calmed down. we kind of over sohot the whole town as i am still getting used to the whole dingy planing thing but we had a nice walk back. we had a another couple of glasses of the local rose and a lamb casarol and turkish pizza, yum yum.

we got back to the boat and went to bed straight away, tomorrow am the slappers are supposedly arriving but we have heard this before!

this morning after karli got back from her kayak around this beautiful lagoon we decided to head over to butterfly valley. it was not on any of our cruising guides or on our charts but it was listed in the lonely planet. it was supposed to be 13 km south of where we where and so we headed off. as it turned out it was only a couple of miles across the bay from us. we over shot but i noticed a lone ais target in this little bit of bay and made a u turn back to it while karli was making us a delicious egg sandwich.

i was concerned it would be too small/deep to anchor in but we found a little spot only about 30 feet and did our med mooring program again. i found a nice rock on shore to wrap the stern line on and we where in.

we headed in to the beach and arrived just before the hord of day trippers showed up. we where planning to hike up to a waterfall but some ass clown wanted us to pay 7 lira per for it. we decied to come back in the am when we where sure it would be free!

we found an abandoned bar overlooking the bay and made plans to come back for happy hour. back on the boat karli was not feeling great (we later discovered she was having caffeine withdrawals from no more tea now that it was warm). when the happy hour alarm went she rallied and off we headed in with the polar bar filled with cheese and crackers wine and soda and ice for spritzers and had a great little happy hour overlooking the bay. it was fun to watch the day trippers slowly leave until we again had the place to our selves!

happy hour was followed by bbqed chicken with oyster sauce and rice back on palapa and another movie night. we vowed to get up early so karli could kayak and we could do our hike before the day trippers arrived.

well today we made an uncharacteristically good call to do nothing! more or less nothing that is. karli went for a kayak around the protected lagoon here while i did some blog updates. when she came back i gave here a bunch of options for different destinations for today and she said why dont we just stay here, what a great idea!

we did head to shore for lunch and again ate at our favorite place overlooking the para gliding competition (sorry for the typos in the previous post about aromatic was supposed to be aerobatic). karli got some great photos of these guys as they landed right in front of us on the beach. pretty sure this would not be allowed in the us!

after lunch we headed back to palapa and had our first full on swim. it was quite brisk with the water temp like catalina this time of year but it was amazing turquoise. i think we will be back to our one swim a day program which should improve moral.

after the swim we grabbed a nap and then headed in for dinner at 6pm. we looked around for a better restaurant but the only one with as nice was charging 40 lira for a bottle of wine, twice the other one so we again returned. as we where enjoying the view we saw another sailboat anchor next to us and then a dingy head towards us. it got almost there but then stopped and the one guys started the long paddle back to the anchorage. when we got back to palapa we asked our new neighbor (6 guys on a 42 foot benatau) what happened apparently the oil cap was not on the engine and it caught fire! yikes, yes this was a charter.

we took our time with dinner this evening and watched the sunset so we did not get back to the beach until 8 after it had closed but we had no problem talking our way through the gate and back to our dingy. cube' libre' continues to plane in just about every condition now. very strange but not complaining as it was quite chilly by the time we made it back.

Sounds like you all are really enjoying yourselves these days - in between boat repairs!

05/18/2011 | David

Looks like you're very close to Kos and Bodrum, where Valerie crashed on a motorcycle and then got to test the Greek medical system. We're currently on a road trip to Alaska, and watching out for Moose. No hail storms here yet. Pics on FBook.

today was the sort of day we really need to stop having. we managed to pack about 4 days into one and by the time it was over we where exhausted! it got started harmlessly enough with a dingy to shore for breakfast. the owner was supposed to pick us up at 8am but after thinking first the ice cream guy and then the bread guy where our ride we decided to launch cubre libre. we arrived at a little dock on shore to see our "ride" working away on a non cooperative outboard! we had a great turkish breakfast for 2 with and extra omelet on the side all for only 20 lira. we got a great pic of this but alas too much was to happen..

after breky we went on a hike on the island behind us. it was supposed to be covered with acient ruins and when we came a ashore we noticed it was named st Nicholas island, according to the sign santa clause "summered" here getting ready for his anyal trip around the world! the sign also said we needed to pay 4 lira a piece to view the island but of course no one was their to collect from us. the island was indeed covered with ancient ruins and we got a lto of shots of these along with a great shot of palapa from the top of the mountin.

after our hike karli had invited Caroline from imagine to come over for a "make over" thing of some sort. i gathered up my laptop and some other stuff and beet feet of palapa. i figured i would spend 30 min or so on imagine waiting on karli and caroline to be done. 3 hours later i finally got the all clear call on the vhf and headed back.

by this point it was 2pm so any normal cruiser would have called it quits but karli had wanted to go over to oledenez beach which was featured prominently on the cover of the turkey lonely planet. i am always skeptical about anchoring near beaches (too much surf) but agreed to give it a try. we had a little dingy snafu when karli when to untie us from shore she stalled the dingy and it would not start after it flooded. she swore at me and the poor engine vehemently asking why we where still using this dogy piece of ----- given we had a brand new one in the locker. in the end marc rescued her and she went back in and got us un tied.

we after a short 30 min trip we cam around the corner and discovered this gorgeous little cove dirrectly across from this beautiful beach! we did a flawless med mooring in 80 ft with the line to shore. this time i took it in while karli kept palapa in reverse pulling on the anchor. i got the line looped around a big rock and we where in!! after a celebratory high five or two we headed to shore to explore. the amazing thing was the dingy now had no problem plaining at all???? i think the motor was scared of being decommissioned and somehow got another hp our of its self! we found a little dock in the national park part of the beach which was free with park entrance of 4.50 lira a piece so we went for it.

we found a nice restaurant on the beach overlooking this stage that turned out to be for the forst ever turkish international aromatic para glider competition and settled in with a bottle of local while to watch the competition and have dinner. we had to beet feet at 730 to head back to our dingy before the park closed and we where cut off from the dingy but this was just as well as it coincided with sunset and it was getting a little chilly. did i mention this was officially our first day of summer here with temps up at 25C. if this holds tomorrow we may even go swimming!